Down In The Hole
by The Chosen One
Summary: Two-Face's scars run deeper than his face. It took more than acid to turn Harvey Dent into a murderous psychopath. This story explores a dark episode in Harvey Dent's tormented childhood, and how it helped make him into the men he is today.


**DOWN IN THE HOLE**

**25 Years Ago**

_Good boys don't do bad things!_

_Bad boys don't do good things!_

Harvey Dent was trapped in the darkness. He didn't know how long he'd been trapped down there. He'd lost consciousness a few times, from exhaustion after all that wailing and trashing about, so he'd lost track of all sense of time. It could have been days. It could have been hours. Surely no less than hours. It was so hard to keep track! It was total darkness in here, with no light for his eyes to grow accustomed to. So he could see nothing. And ever since he'd heard his father slamming the front door above him, and the car driving away, way back...he didn't know how long ago, it had been total silence. So he could hear nothing. It was like being trapped in a black hole, a void of nothingness.

Of all the cruel punishments his father inflicted on him, the one he hated and feared most was being locked in the basement and left, cold and hungry and alone. In the dark. He was so afraid of the dark, so afraid...

"Daddy! DADDY!"

His throat was raw and hoarse from screaming. He knew his father was gone, not there to hear him. Way out here in this old farmhouse, there was nobody to hear his screams. But he screamed anyway. His own voice kept him company, and helped break that awful silence.

"I'm bad! I know I'm bad! I'm sorry! I'm bad - punish me! Bad boys get beaten, that's what you tell me Daddy! Hit me, I deserve it! Just don't leave me, Daddy! Don't leave me by myself! I love you so much Daddy, I don't want you to leave me!"

And then he broke down into incoherent sobs. That was the worst fear of all. When his father threw him down the stairs into the basement, his parting words were always the same.

_I might not come back this time._

I'll just pack a bag, get in my car and leave, he'd say. No one would ever know. And it'd be your own fault. It was your fault your Mommy died and went to Heaven and left us, and it'll be your fault when I leave you. You're a bad boy, Harvey.

And he was a bad boy, Harvey Dent knew it. He loved his father, dearly, more than anything in the whole world. His father was a kind, gentle, loving man who wanted a good son who he could give all that love to. And Harvey wanted to be that good son, he truly wanted to. He tried so hard to please his father, to make him happy. Sometimes he could. But a lot of the time, no matter how hard he tried to be good, the badness in him made him do something wrong, and make his father mad, and then the monster came. It wasn't his father that hit him, that cut him, that locked him in here. No, not his Daddy. It was the monster. The monster that took over his Daddy, and forced him to do terrible things to his son. The monster that only came because, however hard he tried to be good, Harvey Dent was a bad, bad boy.

"Stop crying."

Harvey sobbed bitterly, burying his face into the cold stone floor.

"Stop crying!"

He stopped, pushing himself up into a kneeling position, and trying to stifle his sniffles.

"What good does that do, feeling sorry for yourself? It's your own fault you're in here, because you're evil, Harvey. You're a bad, horrible, evil human being. You're not good enough to have a Dad who loves you, you don't deserve a Daddy as good as the one you've got. Just pray he's forgiving enough to give you another chance."

Harvey pounded his fists - already bloodied from his scratching at the door - into the ground, letting out a wail of frustration.

"I don't want another chance from him! I hate him! I HATE HIM!"

But then he calmed himself, shaking his head feverishly.

"No no no no no. How can you say you hate your Daddy? I love my Daddy. I love my Daddy. He's right. You are bad. You're so bad."

He felt tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'm not..."

He slapped himself across the face, hard.

"Stop crying! Pitying yourself, you make me so sick, you're such a selfish little rat! I hate you! God, I hate you so much! You don't deserve to ever get out of this basement. That's why I'm leaving you down here, forever!"

Confusion blurred young Harvey's mind. But that gave way to the clarity of steely resolve. He knew what he had to do.

"I am Harvey Dent..."

Shaking all over, he nevertheless forced himself to stand up, his hand on his chest as if he was swearing allegiance to the flag.

"I am good, I am honest, I am kind. I will devote my life to helping others, and protecting the innocent. I will work hard to be the very best I can be."

He slapped himself again.

"I am not the bad boy who disappoints his father, the evil little boy who can't do what he's told."

And again.

"He stays down here. He wastes away down here, in the dark, with nothing but his hatred and his cruelty to keep him company. Not me."

This time he punched himself, hard. He toppled off his feet, the blow rocking him. He spat a wad of blood onto the ground. And then it came. A low, guttural growl from the back of his throat. His teeth bared up, and he snarled like a wild animal. It was the badness in him!

"Get away from me! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

He struggled with himself, writhing on the floor and making inhuman noises. He tugged at his hair, feeling tufts give way in his fingers, as if he was pulling the evil out. Inside, he felt a genuine agony course through his body. He dug his fingers into the ground, ripping his nails from their fingers. It was like some kind of morbid self-exorcism, Harvey Dent determined to be a good boy for his daddy, and to rid himself of the bad boy who ruined everything once and for all.

At last, the struggle was over. And little Harvey, 8 years old, was totally spent. He lay on his back, panting, his eyes staring up into black nothingness.

"My name is Harvey Dent. I am a good person."


End file.
